Toxic Ideas

By: Ana Genz
Supervisor: Dr. Gesa Lüdecke

Format

For my final project, I chose to create a graphic novel, because I wanted to deal artistically with topics that I encountered during my time in the Certificate Program. My graphic novel engages critically with some underlying “toxic” ideas that exist within our society, which do not only harm human beings but also have an impact on nature. The title Toxic Ideas is a reference to the research field of “toxic masculinity studies”. My protagonist Linda is a female environmental studies student, who travels in time and interviews Moses, Adam (and Eve), René Descartes, Christopher Columbus, and Adam Smith. I chose to experiment with this medium because it offers a unique way to convey complex information simply and understandably. Graphic novels or comics are often engaging and entertaining also for a non-academic audience, thanks to their aesthetics and their incorporation of humor. I tried to create a graphic novel that could bring ideas of the field of the Environmental Humanities to a wider audience or to pop culture.

Working in an Interdisciplinary Field

In my final project, I used an interdisciplinary approach because I dealt with historical persons (Moses, Descartes, Columbus, etc.) and topics that are religious and philosophical. I used my background in literature to do close readings and interpretations of text as for example: "Füllt die Erde und macht sie euch untertan und herrscht über die Fische im Meer und über die Vögel unter dem Himmel und über alles Getier, das auf Erden kriecht." (1. Mose 1:28). Moreover, I used my background in History of Art for dealing with images and experimenting with text and image at once. My master in the Environmental Humanities helped me to conceptualize environmental issues and to understand them in their structural and historic dimension. I think my graphic novel brought many perspectives together, which is fruitful.

Challenges

Doing a creative project for university is challenging. On the one hand, I appreciated this opportunity and freedom, on the other hand, I had to invest more work than it would have been with a conventional academic paper. (Also, because I have more routine in writing academic papers). Within a creative process you never know how the outcomes will be and knowing that one will be graded produces stress. Nonetheless, I am very happy and proud of my graphic novel and I am thankful that I had the opportunity to experiment with new mediums. For creating my novel, I used the program Canva. Canva is a useful tool because it provides many images and icons that are for free use. However, many materials must be purchased extra. I managed to create my graphic novel on a free basis, but it was definitely a limiting experience. Right now, I have shared my graphic novel as a PDF file, but it would be nice to print it. Therefore, I would need some budget. Getting a little financial
support for a creative final project would be helpful.

Bibliography

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